


The Other Side

by pexchyeom



Category: ATEEZ (Band), K-pop, Stray Kids (Band), TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Character Death, Crimes & Criminals, Fiction, Gangs, Killing, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parallel Universes, Paranormal, Police Officer Kim Hongjoong, Student Choi Soobin, Suicide, WAIT THAT SOUNDS WRONG, aaaaaaaaaa, i can bite, this is my first story here so be gentle
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:54:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29018535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pexchyeom/pseuds/pexchyeom
Summary: For the first time in years -I'm finding chemistry easier than whatever we are doing.
Relationships: Choi San/Jung Wooyoung, Choi Soobin/Choi Yeonjun, Choi Soobin/Hwang Hyunjin, Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa





	The Other Side

**Author's Note:**

> The following is inspired by the FMV 'The Other Side' by my angeel tv on youtube. Check them out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV0PbciBnFw&t=10s

25 March, 2019  
Dongjak, Seoul, South Korea  
17:27

Yunho mopped the sweat off his brows as he thanked the movers for their help, the movers responding back with a smile and headed to their truck parked right in front of his apartment complex. He had to worry about his landlord finding out but his head was occupied by a certain male staring into the busy streets past the net fence -a feet dangling with his elbow propped on the other leg’s elbow. 

“Hey kid!” called the truck driver, Yunho momentarily snapped out of his thoughts and rushed to him. The driver tapped on his wristwatch, the younger understanding the signal and fished out his wallet, handing the older a wad of cash through the window. “You better take good care of your friend back there. Losing a brother ain’t a small deal, and those media clowns just make it worse.”

The younger boy chuckled sadly. “I will. Thanks for the discount, by the way.”

“Anything to help a fellow brother, went through.” the driver put on his cap, eyes moving up front. “Get that lad off the back. We don’t got all day.”

Nodding vigorously (and shivering at the sudden change of tone), Yunho ran to the back on the truck. The movers he thanked crowded on the other side, occasionally glancing at the bubblegum pink haired male. Yunho shrugged it off, more focused on the task in hand -getting his friend off the truck.

“San… get off.” muttered out Yunho, slapping himself for his bad wording. He inhaled and spoke again. “The movers need to go. We can continue inside the house.”

Whatever he just sputtered out seemed to work, the ravennette staring into the void for another second before hopping off the truck (Yunho giving himself a panic attack from watching the latter jump off the three meter high platform). Yunho hastily bowed a thanks for the final time to the whole mover crew and ran after his friend.

San was gone. Oh fuck, he wished that idiot he befirended didn’t do anything stupid as he went into the his open house for easy moving purposes, fortunately finding the boy in the house staring out the window, facing the setting sun. Yunho sighed, fanning his white shirt to dry the sweat building inside and dropping on his bed lined with the wall opposite the window. “Guess you chose the window again,” Yunho let out a breathy laugh, trying to get San’s attention.

The effort went in vain as San remained silent. Not wanting another wall to talk to, he tried again with a stern tone. “Don’t make me kick you out on day one.”

“Soobin is alive.”

Yunho began to suspect if his friend had some hearing problems or mood swings, shoving the decision aside to ponder over after dealing with San. “Yes, he is. We know he is alive.”

“Then why did you not say anything when that hag said he’s dead?” He was ready to see any face on San besides the numb one, taking the statement back after witnessing his friend’s face of pure wrath. Yunho recalled his conversation with the driver, clearly remembering the older not mentioning anything related to death, except for-

Of fucking course. “He meant lost like missing, which Soobin clearly is.” Yunho explained while staring at the water stained ceiling, trying hard to ignore the daggers from San. “We saved loads ‘cause of him, and you didn’t even say a word.”

“Isn’t that his job?”

Yunho shut his eyes and prayed to anyone above for some patience as his private supply was at a brink of extinction. He stretched his arms to the switchboard above him for the air con and successfully smashed the correct button to cool off his anger. “Getting the discount isn’t.” He said, throwing his arm over his eyes for comfort. “It was quite nice of him to bite his loss for your ungrateful ass.”

“Oh, now I’m the bad guy.”

“Will you not twist words for one fucking minute?” San himself slightly jumped at the calm giant’s outburst, silently setting himself on his bed and awaited further instruction. Seeing the action through his peripheral vision, Yunho thanked the upper power and breathed in some patience before sitting up with a stoic face.

Drawing in another long breath, Yunho said calmly -”He’s alive, well, and probably somewhere munching on ramen for survival -which he better be doing. We have to stay calm and work on not giving him a heart attack if he comes back, kay?”

San slowly nodded, the corner of his lips curving up at the image of his brother’s puffed cheeks reserved for food time. That was the only feature he didn’t throw away after puberty. As much as he loved the scene of the brother smiling after months, he broke it to add; “One of them being not going on the road and offer your life to steel-skinned creatures.”

“Four wheeled elephant is much better than that,” San grimaced at his friend’s weird choice of words to describe trucks. Yunho broke into fits of laughter, the latter joining in unconsciously. The bright moment was left to be witnessed by the birds returning to their nests after a long day and the trees rustling with the humid wind of Seoul.

For a moment, the boys forgot about their grief and remained oblivious to the scenes on the other side.

\---  
The Other Side  
17:30

Soobin gasped out from the bottom of the pool, forcing his pained lungs to take in all the oxygen wasted under the water surface.

Desperate breaths echoed around the dark pool, the moon light giving a dim, eerie glow to the entire place. Soobin flapped his hands and swam to the edge of the pool, slowing down his breath as his chest came in contact with the freezing tiles, the temperature nothing for the student. 

His eyes swarmed around the well known swimming pool, confusion written all over his face. “How did I end up here?” Soobin whispered, forcing himself to sit up. The wheels inside his mind turned, recalling the events that might’ve led to his current situation.

The class attended the biology quiz and was dismissed early, he went out with Beomgyu and Hyunjin, how his heart did a flip when their hands touched for a moment, smacking Beomgyu when he started singing those trashy kdrama romance songs, apologising to Hyunjin on Beomgyu’s behalf, laughing with him-

Focus; Soobin scolded himself, ruffling his dripping hair to come back to reality. Let’s try that again- he went out with them, came back a little late and bumped into Yeonjun, got a lift back home from him, went inside and found the entire house in a hellish state, his brother comes grunting in a horrible state, got into a fight with him, went to the bridge over the Han River, then…

“Then what?” his scalp got tortured again by his wrinkled fingers, as if it would make him remember. Soobin pressured his mind for its very first non-exam activity. He went to the river with a tear stained scowl, stealing his brother’s sneakers for being easy to put on, and leaned over the waters. That’s it.

Then what was he doing in school -hours after class ended? Even the last janitor left by now. The pool area gets locked at one pm by the gym teacher, who took off for his hometown right after his duty. No way someone could pull a prank like this, or did they do it for revenge? Soobin never hurt anyone around him to his knowledge. Did he do it unintentionally?

Soobin forced shut his eyes, pulling onto his hair to be relieved from the growing headache. He should think later, right now getting out of here without catching a cold was his top priority. 

By some miracle, he got up in one go and made his way to the boys locker room on his shaking legs, praying to not fall. He found the benches inside and used it for support until reaching the far last locker, internally cheering upon finding the uniform he forgot to take a week ago in a plastic bag. The cheers were quickly swapped by vigorous gagging as the stench of his sweat spread around him. At least it was dry, he can manage.

The student quickly changed then and there, and wiped down his body with a towel from a neighboring locker (apologizing while doing so). He put the wet shoes and towel in the bag, stealing a pair of shoes from another locker (again apologizing) and left -the wet clothing articles watching his departure from the floor. 

The shoes squeaked while Soobin ran to the (fortunately) open door and into the silent hallways. It reminded him of those school horror stories his juniors would shout in the cafeteria, physically gulping at the seemingly longer hallway. Just look down and walk -and he followed, forcing his eyes to take in every detail of the loose sports shoes. He turned to the memorised directions and reached the front entrance without disturbing any ghost from their academic studies. 

To his surprise and luck, the entrance was unlocked along with the gate wide open across the ground. Even without a single lit light source around, the ground was completely visible to Soobin. Maybe all those carrots began to kick in. Whatever it was, he ran down the ground and out the gate, the noisy wind almost making him go deaf. The wind left his side when he stopped to catch his breath, finally hearing the plastic crunch with his movement. Coming back to his senses he looked around, a frown gracing his handsome features.

Pieces of rock littered the road, the houses and buildings around either worn out or completely demolished. Soobin looked back at his own school to see the paint applied just a month ago chipping off, the windows broken or cracked, webs of crack and vines growing along the concrete exterior, the side containing the junior classrooms completely destroyed by a tree. The letters of the school name also fell off, the remaining characters spelling ‘Hit High’ he would be losing a lung over at a different situation.

Before he could let out another confused gasp and re-question his existence, a crash saved his mind from any more headaches. Soobin snapped his head to the direction of the sound (almost dying in the process), a lonely trash bin lid rolling and noisily landing a few meters away from the male. The noise filled the air for a brief second, followed by more metal clanking.

Soobin watched enough horror movies to know if you sense danger, run the fuck away from weird ass noise -and, for the first time in his life, he took his own advice.  
\---  
“Innie?”

A head popped out of the big trash can, making Felix sigh and mirror the head’s smile. “Chased another fox?” He asked softly, helping the younger out of the can and dusting his shirt.

A vigorous up and down motion of the head was what he received, Felix chuckling and ruffling the younger’s head. “You should’ve called me to help find the fox. Please don’t run off when you see a fox again. Changbin was this close to killing me.”

The owner of the head soundlessly giggled, nodding again. With the assurance from the younger (waiting to be broken again), the older was left to look around the mess created by you know who. He spotted the lid on the road and jogged to it. Jeongin could really make a mess, he shook his head at the result of the boy chasing the fox and turned to return, stopping at the sight of the open school entrance. 

His brow raised at a sharp angle, eyeing the footprints on the ground trailing from the entrance to the gate. Felix shook it off, must be Innie for that ‘fox’. Just as he continued his brief journey to return, he shocked himself with the fox eyed boy standing before him with a grin of mischief. “Don’t freaking do that,” he scolded, lightly hitting the latter with each word. The younger ran away with that same grin, Felix hastily returning the lid to its pair and chasing behind. 

Both of them stopped at the bright yellow light shining through Jeongin’s back pocket. They made eye contact and went closer, the younger taking out the source of the light -a compass. They had to squint their eyes to see the red arrow pointing at the opposite direction of the trash bin. 

Jeongin quickly spinned some controls attached on the side to dim the lights, now able to read the words pointed by the arrow -the two shared a look of horror after doing so and running to the direction they came. They had to tell the others.

Ominous Realm.  
\---  
[EDITED]  
Wordcount: 2.1k words


End file.
